


My Girl

by Adarian



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-27 17:03:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7626751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adarian/pseuds/Adarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scotty doesn't understand the appeal of small talk, but he finds that he's softened to the idea now that Jaylah is part of his family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Girl

Scotty did not understand the appeal of small talk. Running into someone at a bar or at a party, people would sum up a person's life in just a few questions. How are you? How's work? How's your partner? How are your parents? How are your children?

Scotty was a healthy man, nothing exciting to talk about. He hadn't been dating anyone seriously, or at all, in nearly ten years and anyone who knew him knew not to push the matter. His parents were both well, retired and living in the Highlands with his sister and her two young children. All three of which were also doing well and he spoke to at least once a month when communications allowed. He had no children and had no intention of ever having children, as much as he loved his nephew and niece, the latter of which he had watched growing up through his monitor, her uncle just an abstract concept to her. 

Work was his life, but people weren't asking about how the Enterprise was doing. He could go on and on about his ship and the hoops she made him jump through. Most people would doze off half way through his updates or they had clearly been asking to be polite and he would apologize and change the topic. Or, to be honest, usually excused himself and went to go find someone else to talk to. 

But lately he had been asked a different question, even just among his colleagues on the ship. How's Jaylah?

At first he thought it was a silly question. Any of the crew could easily have called her up and checked in on her, but it came clearer and clearer to him over time that she had become part of that life summation. She was _his_ Jaylah, deemed by acquaintances to be just as important as a spouse, a family, or his beloved ship. And just as hard to surmise.

He could talk about her first weeks at Starfleet, protesting wearing a skirt to class by showing up in only her underwear until she was allowed to wear pants. How she had learned to play bass and was in a revivalist rock band that played at clubs to a poorly attended audience. How she was struggling with astrophysics and languages, but was a natural at electrical and mechanical engineering and was taking flight classes for fun on the weekends. How she had made friends with locals easier than she had her fellow students, essentially being adopted by Sulu's extended family in San Francisco after his mother had invited her over to dinner. How she called Scotty after taking the _Kobayashi Maru_ as part of her entrance exam to the Command track, sobbing hysterically as the lesson hit too close to home. How he had used up all his communications credits for the month staying up with her, talking about her family and the future she was going to have on the Enterprise with her adopted family. 

Scotty had never planned to have children, didn't plan to have a wife other than the Enterprise. But he had a Jaylah, a young woman who was proud of as he would any daughter. 

So when he was asked how she was, Scotty couldn't help but smile and say, "She's doing just fine."

**Author's Note:**

> Like Scotty, Jaylah is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.


End file.
